Brewers Notes: Greinke, Gibbons, Payroll

When Matt Cain signed his six-year, $127.5MM extension with the Giants, McCalvy "got the sense that just blew things up" in regards to the state of Zack Greinke's contract talks with the Brewers. Before Cain's deal, McCalvy thought Greinke would "absolutely" remain in Milwaukee, and while he isn't quite as certain now, there is still a chance Greinke re-signs with the Brewers even if he reaches free agency.

In the unlikely event that the Brewers are out of the NL Central race by July, McCalvy still doesn't think the Brewers will sell off such players as Greinke, Shaun Marcum or Francisco Rodriguez. The team is drawing more fans than ever to Miller Park and "it would be a very tough sell to those ticket holders if you start trading away your core players."

McCalvy says he could see the club "dial back a bit" on payroll in the coming years. The Brewers' relatively small TV market and cable TV contract will make it hard for the team to sustain its current payroll, which Cot's Baseball Contracts calculates at approximately $98.15MM for the 2012 season.